Laura Munkholm:
Alright. Good morning, everyone. Uh, just a quick check-in, ladies. Can you see the audience view now? Everybody in a good spot? Okay. Awesome. Uh, thank you. Thank you to those of you who are on time and ready to rock this morning. Uh, oh, Billy. Hey. Good to see you. Kathleen. Hi. I know we have quite a few few people registered for this one today, so, um, I'll give it just a minute before we do introductions and get started. Um, but for any of you that are watching this on record or are going to be here live but maybe not able to stay for the whole time, um, this actually lives on our website forever right now. Sorry about that. I I did mute my other channels, but apparently Slack didn't respond to that. Um, anyway, this will live forever on our website now, so you can always come back at any time and, uh, watch the remainder. We've got some exciting takeaways we'll be the team will be sharing with us today, So, um, you can always request those, and if you are registered right now, you will receive them. So okay. I think we will go ahead and get started. I know we'll have lots of people joining over the next little bit, but, uh, if anybody has questions as we go through the presentation today, there is a chat window on your right side. I know this looks a little different than Zoom does, so, um, just make sure you can find that. Um, and in general, if you've never been to one of our Walla webinar series before, we are very pro conversation, pro questions, and we try to make this as interactive and helpful as possible. Um, part of the reason we started the Walla webinar series was because we really wanted to give, uh, as many opportunities for you to take action in your business. Um, even if it's something that creates a one degree shift, it can dramatically change the, um, direction of your business and and really move you towards some of your goals. So it was very intentional that I brought the ladies from Raising the Bar Consulting, uh, together today to talk about growth. When we did a survey at the beginning of the year about the topics that are most interesting to all of you guys, uh, who own studios, who own groups of studios, or who are interested in opening studios, one of the things that came up time after time was what's next? How do we take this model, this business, that seems to be going pretty well? Like we're profitable, we're cranking, we've got some systems in place, I'm sure we could do better somewhere, but what do I do next? Do I open a second location? What do I need to open a second location? Do I you know, all of these franchises seem super successful out there, why don't I do that? Or what's with licensing? What does licensing actually mean? And so there were a lot of questions around what the right type of growth is and how to move in that direction. And naturally, I reached out to the team at Raising the Bar because, guys, this group of ladies has worked with worked in, for, and with some of the biggest names in the industry, from Xponential Fitness to Orangetheory, um, Mayweather Boxing, and worked with numerous other brands to identify the metrics and set up the systems for growth. Um, I've had personal friends that have worked with them and raved about them, and so I thought they would be a fantastic group to to really dissect this topic and give you guys some actionable steps to to move in the right direction. Um, so without further ado, I would love to introduce Britney, Rebecca, and Amanda to you. Um, and who's gonna be kicking off first? Who do I hand the reins over to?

Amanda:
That would be me, Amanda. Hello, everyone. Um, so we are extremely excited to be partnering with you guys today and, um, provide some framework and education for you guys to really begin to envision a a greater future for your business, for your members, for your team members that may be looking for career growth as well. Um, but I want you really to think about every single person that walks into your facility and the fact that they have a fitness goal. Right? But that fitness goal looks different to every single person. Right? It's not the same. What their end game is is gonna be different. So that is 100% the same for each of you as business owners and operators in the health and fitness space. Your definition of growth or your end game or your goal is going to look different than the other 12 people here on this call who are exploring growth options. And so today our intention is really to prepare you to first understand how to give analysis to what are you ready for growth? What does growth really need to look like first within your your current facility to then begin to mobilize a plan for your vision for growth long term and begin to define what those growth options are. Um, so, you know, whether you're looking to expand to new locations, you think entering new markets is the next step for you, or you wanna understand if franchising or licensing can be the answer for more rapid growth, we're gonna guide you through that today so that you understand what that looks like. Um, so our main objectives are outlined today, and what we're going to cover with you is going to be, uh, who we are at raising the bar, give you an introduction to each of us, um, how to evaluate your business. And we look at business through four main strategic pillars. That's people, processes, products, and profit. Um, outside of that, we're also going to walk through profit analysis tools and case studies because profitability is really the first piece that earns you the right to say growth is something that is next for me. And so giving yourself the right types of tools and resources to give analysis that is is not, um, how we feel, but is what what is real is critical, and then the types of growth. So we are gonna go over the benefits and challenges of each of the different four types of growth that we're gonna focus in on today, which is France franchising, licensing, additional locations, and internal studio growth. Um, so that is our plan. Um, so who are we, though? Right? So you wanna know who you're talking to and why we're here. Um, we are raising the bar. Uh, Britney, Rebecca, and myself started raising the bar, uh, just over a year ago with the intention to support health and wellness businesses around the world to raise the bar and flourish. We knew that we had years of experience in the fitness industry, um, that if we could offer that support to people that their growth could happen quicker, more effectively, and that they could reach the potential in their business, and that was important to us. But instead of us giving you a background and telling you our resumes, we thought today it would be much cooler if we could share with you our superpowers, what we believe our superpowers are, uh, when it comes to supporting owners and operators. And in that, we'd also like to know about all of you. So this is our first request for you to open up and get your your typing fingers ready to share with us your superpower. Um, each of you probably had one that you knew wasn't being ignited, uh, prior to being a business owner, and you wanted to ignite that through your business. So what is your superpower? Add it to the chat, um, but I will go ahead and share with you mine. Um, my superpower that I truly believe, um, is my gift is the gift to support and allow people to remove obstacles, uh, so that they can grow. That is my gift. So obstacles might be people development, engagement, whatever it may be, but I take a look at those those things that are stumbling blocks and help you identify how to effectively remove them. That's my superpower. Uh, so I'll hand it over. Becca, share your superpower.

Rebecca:
Well, it's not getting the presentation to work right now, but I was

Britnay:
just gonna say that I love you for that so much. Yeah. You'll learn a lot about us today, and this is one of them. In the back of them and I are like, the view is not right. What's happening here?

Rebecca:
I hit present, and it stays on the other screen. So I'll first share

Laura Munkholm:
with you You're down.

Rebecca:
The screen. Um, but I would say my superpower is probably honesty, and that sounds like an interesting one, but I think honesty isn't always comfortable. And it really is having difficult conversations, um, that's rooted in genuine desire to help everyone I work with succeed. Um, so these two laugh at me a lot, but I say it a lot on calls when I'm working with people that, um, you're not always gonna like what I have to say, but you will love me when you reach the goals you want to. And I think sometimes it is hard, um, to make changes and have results if we don't have tough conversations. And you guys do it every day in your business. It's typically we why we got into this industry is to change lives. So for me, having those uncomfortable conversations is so important in the idea that, again, we wanna help people succeed at the end of it. So I I would say honesty is my superpower.

Britnay:
I love that.

Laura Munkholm:
You're you're somebody that a lot of organizations wish they had. I can tell you that.

Britnay:
In there. Amanda, me, you?

Amanda:
Yeah. That's

Britnay:
you. Okay. So, um, I I think that in in our industry, you have to have two different sets of superpowers. You're we're talking about how we impact consumers. And my superpower from a consumer perspective is helping people fall in love with fitness for the first time. Every time you start a fitness journey, it feels like the first time all over again, whether it's with a new brand, whether it's my genuinely first time walking into a business. It it's the most exciting part of what we do. On the other side of that, right, we have to help develop the leaders that help people fall in love with fitness for the first time. And that's where in, like, all the warm and fuzzy feelings, I get goosebumps every time I say it. As you develop a brand or you develop into owning a location or growing a location, that's the root of what you do. Um, we don't sell pens and paper. Right? Like, we we have true purpose that really impacts lives long term, and you're a catalyst for that. So, um, I I'd like to say that's my superpower. I paused for second a minute. Can I read some of the superpowers from the chat?

Amanda:
Yep. Let's do it.

Britnay:
Alright. So Taylor's superpower is strategic big picture thinking. I love that. If Heidi's superpower is people feels like they're making people feel like they belong, I love that Nicole said that hers is the same, and Laura is building community and connection. Love the superpowers.

Amanda:
Awesome. So, you know, we figured it was important to start with that because at the end of the day, like I said, everybody's vision for what the end game looks like is different, and that all typically derives from what makes us unique and special, and that shows up in our businesses. It shows up in our business's ability to gain traction because when we're not in alignment with that and who we are, sometimes we'll find that our business doesn't grow the way we want it to. So being able to be connected to your superpowers and know what you are made for allows for you to make the biggest impact and in turn will probably help you grow faster than you imagine. Right? So, you know, we're gonna go ahead and turn it over to the chat box again here because the next question that we have for you is really gonna kick off, um, how we begin to assess when you're ready for growth. So I'd love to find out from each of you how you currently evaluate growth potential. So what I want you to to reference is maybe the resources that you use, maybe there's certain numbers or KPIs you look at. And then if you can identify how often you actually look at that. So, you know, each of us probably has New Year's resolutions, and then we we're strong for three months. And then when do we revisit it again at the end of the year when we go, dang it. I didn't do it. Right? But business isn't like that. We have different ways and mechanisms that we look at things and we evaluate where we're at and what is the place we need to be to earn the right to to move towards growing and getting bigger and and doing the next step. Right? Um, so we'll give it a moment here to to have folks maybe jump in the chat. Maybe if you just wanna answer one of those pieces, that's fine too. Um, but how often do you look at your growth potential or assess your growth and the potential to grow further? Uh, and or what are some of the mechanisms that you use or things that you, um, do to evaluate growth potential? There we go. Um, so we've got from Laura here. Uh, most often, um, she's hearing that you say that the number of autopay members or reoccurring revenue is a growth metric. Absolutely. Because what's that tied to? That's tied to whether or not I have enough resources. Right? Because then that feeds into your profit margin. And, um, what's the cost to operate my business versus the profitability. Right? Um, how often so so how often do you look at these these pieces of autopay and and a number that you wanna get to and determine if you're on track?

Laura Munkholm:
I would say most often we hear monthly, and I'm seeing lots of thumbs up. Yeah. Taylor says monthly.

Amanda:
Yeah.

Laura Munkholm:
So yeah.

Amanda:
Okay. Um, monthly financial review with the team where we look at all financial metrics year over year from Kathleen. Yep. Awesome. So part of this is, you know, when we evaluate our growth potential, we have to understand where we wanna be. So I also wanna give you guys I'm I'm about visuals. Right? Um, you know, back in the seventies, uh, John F Kennedy's whole entire presidential election campaign was based on us getting to the moon. And when he got elected, they struggled to figure out how to get themselves there because they were wondering what the first step was. Instead of, we're on the moon, we envision ourselves there, what was the last step we took before we placed our feet on the moon? So I need each of you to really take a look at whether or not you've created your moonshot because evaluating your growth potential really starts with understanding where you wanna be long term and not just gauging where you're at right now and saying, do I have profitability? Do I have autopays? It's also looking at what is the thing I need to have to make my biggest dream come true and begin to reverse engineer that. Um, so in the chat, we've had a couple of other metrics that people say they look at being added. So looking at your leads, your first visits, monthly revenue streams, attrition. Absolutely. And all of that ties into, do we know that how that fits into our bigger picture? Do we know how that fits into where we want to be? Right? Um, so I'm gonna go ahead and, uh, let's see. We'll we'll move on to the next piece here because what we're gonna dig into now with you guys, um, is what is SWOT analysis? Because this is the first step in you determining, is it is it time for growth? Is it grow time? And additionally, if it's grow time, what what kind of growth path should I be on? So, Becca, I'll hand it over to you.

Rebecca:
Yeah. So I think it's really important when we evaluate businesses or even our own business, this is how we systematically look at everything. And, really, it's an evaluation of internal and external factors that affect our business. And, really, the way you do this is you break down each of these categories and you put things into those that identify what are your strengths, what are your weaknesses, what are your opportunities and your threats to your business. And it really should lead. It's it's not just to do it, but it's to make strategic decision making decisions and lead to planning and goal setting. So like Amanda said, we wanna put the the end in mind when we're doing this. Where do we wanna go? And we really you know, I said honesty is is my strength. You have to do this process of evaluation with honesty, objectivity, and thoroughness. And I think it's really important too when you're doing this process, not to do it by yourself. And I'm not saying everyone on your team should do this, but if you have a great leadership team or you have another partner in your business, it's important to do it together because it's really interesting when you start to do this yourself and then you share it with the other leaders in your business, what they identify as the strengths versus what you identified as the strengths. And then you really can come to a cohesive decision on what we need to do and what actions we need to take to reach our goals. And, really, what it is is taking a piece of paper and saying, what are our strengths? What are the internal factors in our business that separates us from the competition? Is it our instructors? Is it the equipment you we use? What is it in our business that makes us strong? And then weakness. Again, what is something that is hindering us in our in business internally? Maybe it's a weak brand recognition. Maybe we don't have enough capital. And then opportunities and threats are really external factors. So this is, again, when you're considering growth that you really need to think about. What are favorable things that we do in our business that give us a competitive edge? Maybe, again, you guys have created a new programming that not a lot of other facilities are using that give you an edge if you think about growing and expanding. And then threats again, external factors that you really need to look at. Um, and you wanna look at trends in the industry, trends in the marketplace. What potentially could hinder us from growing? But, again, this is a way to holistically look at your business and say, how do we grow and what do we need to do to get there? And, again, as a whole, this kinda seems big, so I'm I'm gonna turn it over to Britney next. But when you're looking at a SWOT analysis, what key components of your business do you think are important to assess for growth? And I can't see the chat, so I'll let Britney and Amanda.

Britnay:
I gotcha in the chat. What do you guys think? Some key components of your business that you guys wanna analyze to determine, um, um, where we are what our plan is for growth. So what are we assessing?

Laura Munkholm:
I think what Billy said is probably, like, all of those those, uh, specific markers are gonna be critical. Like, how consistent are leads coming in Yep. Your monthly recurring revenue and also the attrition. I I mean, I think that's something that often is missed. We're so good at looking at all of the the business coming in, but forget about the business leaving.

Britnay:
Yep. Performance KPI is huge component. Right? What drives those performance KPI's? Kathleen cash flow. Yeah. Do I have the capital? It it's not cheap to just say, you know what? I'm ready to open up another location and take on all the expenses associated with it. So you're right. Cash flow can be one. So those are some key components that we think through. And to truncate that, just like we truncate with the SWOT analysis, we do it in four major pillars. Right? So our four pillars are people, product, process, to find profit. But in these cases, when we're talking about growth, we're really not talking about profit because just profit isn't enough. We're talking about maximizing full potential to prepare you for growth. Now we're gonna break down each of these categories in the coming slides and talk through, okay, what aspects of people am I looking at to determine am I ready for growth? What aspects of product am I looking at to determine if I'm ready for growth? Because if we're thinking about the business, these pillars, they're they're really the foundation. Right? We need to have a solid foundation to move forward. And there are certain attributes that will contribute to the growth long term. But there are some other key pieces that may just be a part of day to day operations, not really determining whether you're ready for scale or growth overall. So let's break down what that looks like when we're moving for growth. So in the SWOT analysis under the category of people, right, if we're just talking about people, what are some of the things that you guys may be thinking through to determine, am I ready to for growth based on people? This has been a hot topic this year.

Amanda:
Very hot.

Laura Munkholm:
Very hot. I mean, how hard it is to find teachers and and retain teachers.

Britnay:
So recruiting

Amanda:
work we do is recruiting. So we know. We feel it. We're there with you. This is a hot topic. People is your, um, most important resource. Right? They're your first member.

Britnay:
Yep. So the people component. Right? So team members recruiting. What else associated with people?

Laura Munkholm:
I mean, capital for paying them. Right? I I think that's a big part of it, how we compensate.

Britnay:
Could be labor for sure, the costs associated with compensating people. So as we move to the next slide, we're gonna truncate people into three separate categories. The first piece is leadership. How many of you in the chat are owner operators today? You own and operate running your business today. It's really challenging when I when I'm growing my brand or growing my baby to say, who's going to run it with as much integrity as me? Who's gonna own and operate with as much integrity as me? That's a lot of the fear tactic that comes into play. So do I have foundationally the right leadership in place, right? Strategic planning and partnerships for sure. Who are my brand partners from a people perspective? Who's going to help us be a catalyst for the brand? That goes back into keeping and holding the integrity of the brand. Right? People really dictate integrity of what you're trying to do long term. Staffing and talent modeling. Again, there's a cost associated with the people dynamic. And over the past couple of years since COVID, we've seen a major fluctuation in the need and interest of the team member. Right? There is this entrepreneurial spirit that is out there, which is what brought everybody here to this call today. Right? There was that fire inside of you. Right? That they wanted to be a part of something. They wanted to have something bigger. Well, that's a consistent tone out there in the recruiting world. Right? So you're looking to bring people on board that can bridge the gap between innovation and growth and, and, um, purpose. Right? But also have the framework to say, this is the framework where we can be the most successful, and it doesn't cause friction. So that goes back into staffing and talent. Do I have the right talent? Is my current location thriving because of two to three people? Or is my current location thriving because I have the right infrastructure set in place with the right people put in place to propel us forward moving moving into another location? Um, human capital, if we're when we talk about everything today, I think we can all agree that this is probably the most important component when determining if you're ready for growth. Do I have an agreeance in the chat? Is this, like, one of the things that keeps you up at night? Like, who's gonna be the me if I move into another city or another state or another yep.

Amanda:
Yep.

Laura Munkholm:
Sounds

Britnay:
good. Overwhelming. Yeah. You're like, nope. Totally get it. Right? Um, so as we're going through these things and you're again, going back to your SWOT analysis, really think through the people component. Am I prepared for growth based on people development and potential people partnership?

Laura Munkholm:
Yeah. I would say one of the things we've consistently heard and kind of talked about in our Facebook group and just in general seen is businesses that have done incredibly well in Location 1 because of one trainer or one staff member or the owner who is, you know, the most wildly passionate person and can drive a million people through the door. But as soon as they're not in Location 2, Location 2 struggles. So

Britnay:
Yep. And and and it is a big component. Right? Because, again, it doesn't mean that instructor instructor capacity, capacity of resources towards instructors. Absolutely. Right? And, again, that's where we have to have a really clear plan on what makes Sally great. If Sally's great and Sally's the class that keeps going, how do I maximize on the people component similar to to Sally's, right, to make sure that we can duplicate it in another location or in another market or in another city or another state. So that's people. As we move into the next one, the next thing that we're gonna analyze and I think I'm handing it over to Rebecca. Look at that. Handing over to Rebecca to go through, uh, analyzing the product components. So we talked about people, but what are some of the components you guys are analyzing to determine is my product ready for scale? What do you got in the chat? I'll read you a chat, Beck. Thank you. You're good. So what are some of the ways we analyze our product to ensure our product is ready to scale? Yep. Utilization, that's a big one, Laura. We're getting active and consistent utilization metrics.

Laura Munkholm:
Maybe we all need help with this one.

Britnay:
Yeah. Through innovations in the chat, have we innovated and stayed competitive from a product perspective? Um, class fill rates? Yep. Utilization and class fill rates? Absolutely. So what do you do for product, Becca?

Rebecca:
So I think the important thing too is market demand. Uh, so when you're evaluating your product for growth, um, the biggest thing I would ask you guys, have you identified your target demographic? Have you done that? Have you identified who your target consumer is? And when you're thinking about expansion and going to new markets, um, you really need to do an evaluation to identify, is my target demographic there? And when we talk about target demographic, it's not just age, it's spending, it's gender, it's all these things that you really need to look at. The other thing you wanna look at when you're looking at new markets is what's the competition there? Is is my product different enough, or am I gonna blend in with all the competition there? So you really need to look at the market demand for what your product offers when you're considering growing outside of an individual location. The other thing you wanna look at with your product is your brand strength. You need to be able to understand, do I attract the right customer? And we don't just mean the name when we talk about brand, but, you know, when you think about your mission, your vision, and your values, does that resonate online with people if they're looking up your product? Does it show up on social media? Does it show up on your website? Am I gonna be able to attract new customers to my business that have no idea who I am? And then the last thing, I think the biggest thing that we all talk about is product differentiation. So we talk about unique selling point, your USP. What separates you from the competition that if you go into new markets that people are looking for something new? So is it your programming? Is it your services? Is it your experiences? Again, you guys all said that sometimes it's having a great experience with an instructor. Can you duplicate that in a new location with what you offer, or is that just one great instructor? Yeah.

Britnay:
So just on the market demand one because I think this can be helpful. Um, if you guys do have a notebook, jot this down. It'll be helpful for you at Converse. Experian business, Experian data. It's a free platform if you are a business owner to determine market demand. It gives you more information regarding, um, spend in your market, how people spend or utilize their time in your market, how many people are interested in fitness in your market, and what they do with disposable income. It also gives you an idea of where your consumer spends the most time. Do they look more at print collateral? Do they they value more digital collateral? Do they value more referral based collateral, word-of-mouth? So it gives you a market breakdown. Again, there's tons of paid platforms out there, but this is one that you can utilize today. And it's through Experian business accounts to get an idea of market demand.

Rebecca:
Yeah. And, again, when we're talking about product and all of that, I think the biggest thing when you're talking about your product is also your process. So when you guys evaluate your businesses right now, what do you think the most important factors are in terms of process in your business?

Britnay:
Gotcha in the chat, Becca.

Laura Munkholm:
Gosh. Is it replicable? You know? Like, is it is it defined to to replicate?

Britnay:
Mhmm. K. K. So I'll,

Amanda:
yeah, I'll start to dig in here a little bit on this. Um, and while we're waiting from for some responses, I want you to think about, um, is there a best practice or standard operating procedure in your location? Um, let me define the differences between the two because this isn't important. This is the difference between a great trainer being the reason that you're doing well versus anybody being able to come in and create a great experience in any studio, and it feels like raising the bar fitness when I walk into Studio 12 And 3. Right? A best practice is something that's cultivated by an individual that they execute that's in their head. They've taken a process that they were given and they've made it their own in a way that they're able to create success and best practices are awesome. But best practices can't really be transferred. They can't be transferred because they aren't a framework, right? And so when we talk about a standard operating procedure, that is a framework that's been created, It's been established and it's been written down. So Billy gave us innovation, scalability and process. Yeah. You've got to have that scalability. But where does scalability come come from? It comes from having something that people can look at and go, okay, these are the steps to success. Let me go and do it. And as I get more confident, I can bring myself to it and create my own best practices. But I can't do that unless the SOP is there. So when we talk about process, process specifically is making sure that you have operational systems. So you've got it when you're considering growth, you have to have a system in place so that system can be pulled from from start point one and taken into to start point two. Right? So you have to review those processes and systems. You have to determine whether or not they're actually going to work in all locations where they're specific to one. Right? Is it is it adaptable in another place, um, and identify areas where you may need to streamline something, optimize it. Maybe you've been working off of one particular system that you'd have to have separate logins in every location for. But as a multiunit operator, you need to have an overarching view of all locations. So there are operational system things that you have to consider. The next is standardization. So what are things that you go? This is absolutely the raising the bar way, and this will make sure that it gets put in operationally and with procedures and protocol in every location versus the things that become the personality of your facility. Now sales, how you how you execute a sales process from start to finish is probably gotta be standardized. But your marketing may be something that you go, is this a standardization, or does this have to look different depending on where we go and where we select to put in location number two? Um, but operations should be considered. Customer service standards, ensuring consistency and adherence to brand standards across all locations or license operations, and then training and support. So it's one thing to have that standard operating procedure put down on paper and you hand it to somebody, But what does it really look like to train them and support them to execute these things at a high level so that it feels consistent in every location based on the experience the employee is providing? So as we take a look at this idea of process, the other thing I want you to think about is how many things in your location right now are because you're an owner operator happening because you do it. And what would it look like to prepare somebody if you were going to give the gift away? Right? Everything you know that's built a great business is a gift. And if we learn something, we have to go share it. Right? But right now, you're you're not sharing because you're in one little microcosm. As you begin to grow, you have to be able to give those gifts away that are stuck in here. Right? What are the things that you innately do from how you schedule yourself throughout the day to accomplish your priorities? Everything. So that also translates to the difference between an as process and a standard operating procedure and what I call tribal knowledge. What's just been handed down? Right? What's the things that through the years just kind of people know to do? Well, guess what? In a new location where you're not there every day, people don't know to do it. They don't know by watching you. They don't know by your example. So those are all the things you have to consider putting pen to paper on. Right? Um, Yeah. And so, you know, as as we look at this next piece here after process, we really jump into those three critical components begin to tell us the story of profitability. Right? So in SWOT analysis, when we're considering growth, under which category should we ideally be putting profit and or where are we right now that that maybe makes us consider things differently. Right? But where should profitability fall in a in a SWAT analysis for you?

Laura Munkholm:
Opportunity, strength, opportunity, but opportunity probably.

Amanda:
Yeah. You know, as we look at this, this is the the key indicator too for what is the next step for growth. If you find yourself being put in a position where you're not sure where it goes, this may be the thing you really need to define for yourself is what is the profitability number for me to determine which bucket it goes into clearly and what happens next. Right? Um, so, you know, some of the feedback on that last piece here is, um, you know, the the idea of an SOP versus the personality of the location and business. Right? Um, that's critical for us. Um, so we'll jump over to the next slide here, and we'll dig in more to this profitability piece. Um, and I'm gonna hand that over. Is that, uh

Britnay:
It's me. There you go. Profit. Alright. So let's talk profit. Right? If we're talking about, uh, long term scalability, duplicatability, it really is what's the financial stability first. Right? Does this operate at a profitable margin because I am the owner operator and maybe I don't take a full salary at this location? Are there some financial, um, gains? Right? We have because we've had some relief in regards to rent or we have some relief that's not typical in business modeling. So what's the financial stability of what we've created within our ecosystem? The other aspect of that, and we talked about this early on, is profit isn't enough. We didn't just come into this business to break even every single month, right? That's not the goal. Of course, we wanna break even, but we want to be able to determine what's our true potential. Potential and maximizing potential at a location should happen before we even determine growth because that's where you really get a true proof of concept. What is the maximum potential? And as I'm looking for a new location or I'm looking to grow or differentiate how we're going to grow, I need to know what the potential is of each location, each footprint before I determine, am I moving forward? That scalability from one unit to two for a lot of people is, is the make or break, right? And if we get from one to two, I promise you, it doesn't always get immediately easier between three and five or between franchise, uh, franchisor proof of concept corporate location number one and franchisee proof of concept corporate location or franchise, uh, location 150. Right? We really have to make sure that the model makes sense so that as you duplicate and as you grow, we're talking about true potential of locations, not just profit being enough. We're gonna take you through a case study. K? Because I think that it's helpful to get an idea of what this would feel or look like if we were working with an exact location on this. So before we look at profitability for growth, what what does profitability today mean to you all in your business? Is it, am I assessing am I am I currently profitable before I pay myself as an owner? Am I profitable enough that I have enough savings in the bank to be able to expand? Am I profitable enough for, uh, potential investment capital to show interest in my business. What does it mean for you guys today? See if we have some in the chat. What are some of our profitable goals or profitability goals?

Laura Munkholm:
Yeah. I think what I hear most often is savings. Like, maybe they've put a salary in place for themselves, they're finally paying themselves, but real profitability is I'm actually saving for the next step.

Britnay:
Yeah. For sure. And things come up all the time, right? That owning a business, it's like, it it's that it feels like at times in the early stages, I can't catch a break because all of a sudden the AC went down today. Do I have enough fine uh, finances in place? Or we're growing so rapidly that now I need to expand and add more classes and add more team members. So do I have enough financially in place to be able to grow? So profitability for growth isn't always talking about that multi unit growth of location, but it's really savings and sustainability for your existing location and you as the owner. So let's go through a case study where we'll walk you through a tool and resource that we use with owners to determine what's the plan for scale. Um, Rebecca touched on this earlier when she said when we're planning, how often are we planning? And in this example, we're gonna look at a six month plan, so a half of a year. We're gonna take a half of a year. And in this case study, Raising the Bar of Fitness is looking to grow to another location. But before they wanna grow to another location, they wanna do a monthly net profit of 15 k. Now this studio is already profitable by $600. Okay? This financial planning tool, all of the pieces that you see there in white are simple, uh, are simple data entry points. Right? So all the data that you guys get from your wallet dashboards, this is where we plug in that information and say, okay. What does that mean? The rest are equations. So industry standard growth, anywhere between 510% is what's considered realistic month over month growth, and we don't wanna break our backs trying to figure this out. So in this case study, it's gonna take us six months to get to the point that we're doing 15 k in profitability and a total monthly net revenue of 45 k for a location, currently profitable at $600. And this means we're growing by 7% month over month, dollars 2,400 in new revenue added. Now we can sit here and say, Britney, awesome. Great. So achievable. But what winds up happening a lot of the time? We have this big, hairy, audacious goal for profit. We have this big goal for actual revenue coming in, but how often does it successfully translate to the actions that take place in the location? Right? We'll sit in a round table and say, I wanna make this much money. And then we give that big, hairy, audacious goal to the team, but the daily actions don't necessary necessarily mirror and match that. So in this this part of the financial planning tool, I like to say this is the owner circle. Right? This is where we spend our time. This is where we get together and say, okay. Let's have a clear plan. We typically recommend this is done monthly when you're just getting started, and then you're doing this quarterly and annually in the future. Right? So we're getting to the point where we're doing annual planning. K? The other aspects of this that you'll see here are some of the operating expenses. So you're plug and chugging your operating expenses. They may fluctuate. We provide guidance and examples on what should those operating expenses look like in comparison. So again, this is owner circle, our safe space. As we go to the next slide, now we have to talk about, well, how are we gonna make it happen? How am I gonna get this to translate to my team to make sure that they're aware of what actions need to take place in order for us to hit that $2,400 in new revenue every single month? Because it may feel like a big scary number for the team if they don't have a roadmap to get there. Right? So on the second slide, you'll see two different things. One, the second side is completely blown up on the bottom of daily, but on the left, it's, again, all of those great data points that you're getting from your wallet programming to say, hey. Look. What am I what's the average person paying for a membership in my location? How many people have actually come into my location or are currently paying me every single month? So what is my average paying member count? What's my attrition? How many people am I churning every single month? Because, again, we have to take into consideration the loss and the gain to determine what we need next. Right? And then we go into our key KPIs for growth from a sales perspective, and that's laser. Leads, appointments, shows, conversions. So we take those components into it into frame here and say, okay. These are controllable KPIs that we're looking to influence and change based on action. It helps you understand where do I need to spend the time with my team to get to the result. So we have all that planning in place over there. Right? Tells you all of the things that need to happen. Okay. We know the KPIs that may be the area of opportunity. We know where we may need to focus our time with their team. That's great. But what does my team need to do on a daily basis? What am I managing them to? So in this example, they have a the Raising the Bar Studio has a 45% closing percentage. Industry standard is 60% on the first visit. So we have a little bit of work to do in this KPI. We have a 70% show percent per, uh, percentage. On the right hand side, you see the industry average being 75. So we're not too far off here. Lead to appointments, about 45%. 45% of our leads that come into the system actually book appointments with us. And with industry standard being 50%, again, not too far off, so we have some room for improvement in these KPIs. It tells us how many leads we need, but now I know my team every day, if we make it really, really simple, just does what's at the bottom. Every day, I need four self generated leads. If I have digital leads turned on, I need four generated leads. If I run two shifts a day or three shifts a day, that may be one or two per shift. That's attainable. As a team member, I know I need two. Okay. Cool. How am I gonna get the two? Maybe DMing on social media, maybe a referral, maybe some other offer or standing outside of the studio. But I know every day, my goal is x amount per shift. I need to book four appointments per day. That's two appointments per shift. Again, really clear attainable goals for the team. I need to and we are firm believers here. We make as many calls or sending as many texts as it takes to get set appointments, but it gives you an average based on how many calls may need to come into the system. And then I only need three prospects to show every day. That's it. Just three. I'm monitoring to three. I may have seven classes on my schedule a day, But if I get just three people to show up based on my performance in my laser for closing, lead to appointment, and show, that will yield me 1.3 memberships a day. And in just memberships alone, I hit my goal of 2,400. Now we know our business models have so many different areas for revenue. Right? We're talking about reoccurring revenue in this example. But what if you're pack driven and pack focused? Can we manipulate the tool for that? What if there are ancillary revenue drivers? Can we manipulate the tool for that? Absolutely. The objective here is to create a really clear plan of action that your team can, again, make simple, scalable, and duplicatable for daily tasks to help you determine, am I gonna hit set targets, and can I grow past those targets long term? K? Before we move on, because I know we're talking about financial financial planning, we're talking about planning for growth, Any questions in the chat about how to effectively use a tool like this? Mhmm. Start up costs, operating costs, breakeven profitability, potential margins, all of those pieces we put into a tool like this to determine if you're ready. In presale, you know, presale, miss Rebecca, we do the exact same thing when you're looking to determine what's it gonna cost to open my next location. What is my rent going to be, my total overhead, my average overhead for labor that I experienced in this location to plan for that success?

Laura Munkholm:
I would say, you know, for sure, I know some of the people on this call and a lot of the people that we've we've talked to over time, um, who are interested in, you know, what's the next step, what's growth look like. Um, They don't have a sales team. They have a front desk person who's checking in. They have a teacher who might be checking in. So is this, like, when you look at where where, you know, your capital is spent, is that the most critical piece? Is it a salesperson? Is it who who does this?

Britnay:
Yeah. Who owns what? Who owns what, where? If I run a hybrid model, because you're right, Laura. We do see that a lot, a hybrid model where coaches are also the salespeople. But because it's been such a passive approach to sales or not a strategic approach to planning for sales, the sales that happen are accidental. And if you if if we don't have a clear plan for growth, it's really, really difficult to grow. And what's so interesting is that when we put those plans in place and we put the people in the right places or even provide clear targets, all of the sudden, the momentum for growth happens because people are hyper aware of what needs to be done, and they're not just reactionary. A cashier saying, oh, yeah. We signed up somebody today. Oh, yeah. We signed up somebody today. Right? Planning for growth helps prepare in a single location, but it's also the catalyst that helps you with the other four ways of growth. So I'm gonna actually kick it over to Amanda who's gonna walk us through the four ways that you can grow. Right? We've already determined that these are the four categories we need to assess, but now there are four different ways that you can choose to grow your business.

Amanda:
Yeah. So one thing I will see too on that piece with planning, um, and and you mentioned it, Laura, with, you know, do do you invest in a salesperson? Um, the the constraints I would say here is if you're not going to invest in a salesperson, where do you have to make other investments? Is it in more digital so that you can hit your number? Right? Is digital producing you maybe point seven sales on average per day, but you need to double that? Well, is it more cost effective to bring in a salesperson to drive self generated business, or is it more cost effective to increase your digital ad spend so that you can hit these targets? But the first piece is understand your target and then be able to determine based on your business model, which is the most fiscally responsible choice to make. Is it to invest more in a place that automatically creates leads for me, or is it to invest in a place that's going to generate leads for me in an organic way that might even have better conversion? Right? Um, so we'll go ahead and jump into the the thing that you're all wondering about. So we have six months later, Raising the Bar Fitness has hit its goal and feel stable and prepared with a $15,000 a month profitability to move into what is next for growth. So I'm gonna go through and define the difference between franchising and licensing for you first, and then we'll talk about the place that most of you are probably at, which is let's get to the internal studio growth, but also if the next step is I have to have proof of concept first and get a second location in another market before I decide if it's franchising or licensing, that's the other thing we're gonna focus on. Um, so franchising. What is the difference between franchising and licensing? Um, the cleanest way that I can tell you about franchising and licensing is that franchising allows you to grow one brand with operational support from the brand itself with the investment coming from your franchisees. So your franchisees put in their own resources and open locations with operational support from the franchise itself. So the franchise is providing resources like training. Uh, we provide infrastructure, marketing recommendations and assistance. That model is one that increases revenue streams while leveraging the efforts of the motivated franchisees. Licensing on the other side of this is a little bit of the more hands off approach for the actual market corporate shares. Right? So licensing entails granting other parties access to your brand, whether it's the intellectual property of the technology that you have that's specific to you, a piece of equipment, the specific formatting. Maybe it's a brand name, um, that you still have some autonomy to change a little bit of the formatting too, but you have to stay true to a type or a modality of working out. It can be a multitude of different ways that you provide the support of your intellectual property to those who want to get invested. And that's through an exchange of some type of a baseline fee or an annual royalty or monthly royalty fee. Licensing agreements are ones that can be geographic. They can be singular location. Um, they can be marketing segments. Um, but that really allows for you to have less operational involvement. They have to decide how they're gonna hire their people, what their sales process are gonna look like, what CRM and resource they choose to use to help them with their sales and operations, planning, and tracking. But that approach really is beneficial for reaching a lot of new markets and expanding without you having to be the one responsible for operationally growing the business and or determining what markets are right for you or products or service lines you're gonna offer in all locations. Um, so we have in-depth resources. There is probably a an continuing of a good six or seven slides that really break down more specifically franchising and licensing. Because say you're already at two locations or say you know that you don't have the capital to go in fun location number two, but you feel like you might have some people who are willing to go in and be owner operators themselves. Maybe franchising is the next step before you go and independently own and operate in an additional location. We're gonna provide to you in the content coming out of today full detail on all of those options. Right? Um, but the most important in any of these four next steps is what is your proof of concept? Because proof of concept is going to really be a guiding light for you outside of your financial planning and your SWOT analysis to determine what is the right next step for me. So it serves as a preliminary demonstration or validation of whether or not your concept is feasible to be a business idea that can be scaled and grown. So it aims to really provide tangible evidence that your concept can be realized and and work and be worth further investment in development. So the components under that are market analysis, your unique value proposition, a lot of things we already talked about here, scalable infrastructure, customer acquisition strategies, retention, engagement, financial viability, and continuous innovation. So depending on how involved you want to be scale of one to 10 on all of these components, you can go back and go, okay, based on where I wanna be in each of these categories, you know what? Licensing is best for me. I don't wanna be the one who's constantly dealing with retention and engagement and helping with customer acquisition strategy. I just want my product out there. Right? So use the proof of concept framework here to determine which one of these four models might be best for you and your growth process. Um, so we're gonna go ahead and put it in your corner right now and ask for you to provide us which you would like to hear about most when we take a look at multiunit growth. So adding another location, um, or are you more interested in really defining and refining internal studio growth opportunity? If you know you need to concentrate on your your current business, is that what we're most interested in hearing about, or do we wanna talk about more location growth? So hop in the chat and let us know.

Laura Munkholm:
I know, like, what we've heard the most is multilocation growth. Like, what what is how do we know we're ready for that? And I think that last you know, the the proof of concept really helps answer that. But if anybody else has specifics, please please jump in. Multi location. Yeah.

Britnay:
Multi location. Saw that in the chat.

Amanda:
Yeah. Yeah. We've we figured that one might be the point of interest because most people who are even considering growth probably feel pretty stable and confident with where their profitability is and are now looking for, okay, let's go to multilocation, and then maybe that will open the door and provide clarity as to whether or not franchise or license is the right next step. So we figured that. We prepared for additional location. Um, so we'll go ahead and jump into talking about additional locations, and I'm gonna hand it to, uh, Britney who's gonna go through the benefits of that.

Britnay:
Yeah. So a couple of the benefits of of a multi location process, Right? You're taking the existing footprint and infrastructure that you've already maximized on in one location and duplicating into others. Multilocation can also include multi market, but we do recommend that when you're going multilocation, keep it up close to home when you're starting. Right? You wanna be able to have a finger on the pulse and be able to conveniently get to multiple locations over time. Um, there's nothing more frustrating than growing and scaling locations that are West Coast to East Coast and trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between the two or getting an understanding of how a different market responds, right, on a different coast versus how it responds and when you're currently comfortable in. So the benefits can, you know, start with the economics for scale. Right? Provide you with a clear infrastructure to scale the business. Brand reinforcement, brand reputation, and recognition is necessary to continue to grow. So you move from one location to two location to three location, that brand awareness, the reputation associated with the brand really winds up having a clear footprint. Um, operational control. It is a scary thing to say, I'm ready for my baby to go into somebody else's hands. Right? Like, we're all so protective of it because you are the person who got it to where it is today. But when you're going from one location to two locations or two locations to three, you can create really clear infrastructure to help you develop clear operational control over them all. Right? How do you do it effectively? How are you still involved with each aspect of the business without have to having to only do all aspects of day to day? Um, revenue growth potential and opportunity. When you're looking at a multi location or a a multi unit economics, you start being able to have the opportunity to benefit from cross cross member, um, cross membership gain. Right? Now I can say, well, I have two locations on the West Coast, or I have two locations within a 30 mile radius of one another, and people wanna benefit from using multiple locations. So you get to play a little bit with your sales opportunities, your sales potential, and ancillary revenue drivers to help support both locations as you consider to grow and scale. Now all of those benefits come with their own challenges. Right? Capital requirements. We have to make sure financially it makes the most sense for us to grow into a single an additional location or two or three without harming the existing ecosystem of the brand. Right? If you grow too quickly because it just feels good, but you don't have the infrastructure to do so, it could be detrimental to what you've currently built. Right? So making the right calls. Is it the right location? Is it the right market? Is the rent the right price? Is it the right time? Am I prepared? Because, again, the capital requirements definitely become something that can, um, outweigh the excitement and the benefit of growth. Operational complexity, again, if the location is too far, if I don't have simple scalable process and procedure, it'll wind up feeling like you don't have a grip on the day to day operations without, to Amanda's point, being boots on the ground in that location. That's not meant for scale. Right? Especially if you're an owner operator that's currently doing that in their existing location. So who am I teaching, training, or developing, or partnering with to help me scale to that next location? Um, some of the other pieces of market saturation, risk management, and scalability really come down to, do I know my market? Am I prepared for the growth that I'm looking at from a market perspective? Um, risk management is also a human capital thing. Right? Do I have the right people to help mitigate the risks associated with growing my brand? As lucrative as it can be to create brand awareness, having the wrong people, the wrong process in place, no matter how great your product is, can hurt you more than help you when you're talking about growth and scale. Um, and then sustainability. Right? That you don't run you don't get into this business because you wanna work three sixty five days a year, seven days a week, uh, from open to close every single day. Right? That's not a scalable model. And I know sometimes it feels like that. It's like, I'm so busy working in my business that I can't work on my business. When we're moving from a single location to multi locations overall, the dynamic may shift. You're now no longer working in your business every single day in certain areas. Now it's really time to work on your business, put yourself in the best position possible to systematically scale. Um, and adding more locations, again, over time, there is a compounding effect. Right? Brand equity, brand interest, brand growth, overall, it does happen relatively quickly as you go to do it correctly with scale based on potential past profit. Right? So as we've talked through benefits, challenges, and sustainability, some of the additional location things to keep in mind, I'm gonna kick it over to part of the team here because I think we're all gonna chime in a bit. Um, operational capacity. Amanda?

Amanda:
Yeah. So as we talk about operational capacity, and I'm gonna keep some of this short because I know we're running low on time here. Um, but within operational capacity, it is really important to look at a few things, um, when you're determining what's next for you. Right? So, um, that's gonna be assessing whether or not your current fitness studio is operating efficiently and profitably, um, and then determining whether or not you have the capacity to manage additional locations. If you don't, what kind of staffing infrastructure do you have to put in place to be able to manage multiple locations? Um, market saturation, you're gonna wanna select a market, a location that allows for there to be demand still for you and that there is interest in your product. So when we look at this, we look at population density. Um, how many within a a five minute, ten minute drive time, not just mileage. Right? Because depending on where you are, um, three miles could be three minutes in one area and three miles could be thirty minutes in another. So you wanna see all of those facets to say, do I have enough population to grow and to to take 35% of the market space and put them in my facility? Financial resources. So do I have resources, funding? Do I have the ability to get upfront costs and leasing covered? What would that look like? Where would it come from? And then scalability. Am I gonna be able to take my current processes and business model and put it into the new location? So with that, I I know in here we had someone mentioned they're already multi unit and are looking to focus on one location, um, that is struggling. And so we are we do have additional slides here that talk about studio growth and how to focus in on strategy for in studio growth. So sometimes the those slides may be the right thing for you to look at, Taylor, and see if there are some things in here that you need to go through and assess in your business for product diversity, utilization, technology integration, ancillary revenue opportunity, and retention struggles. Um, so I'm gonna hand it over, uh, and and we'll kind of close out today with our our thoughts on the twenty four hour rule and what you get from today.

Britnay:
Yeah. So, uh, twenty four hour rule. Uh, we had so such great dialogue and conversation today, and there there's there's this concept of putting to practice exactly what you talk about within the first twenty four hours of hearing something new. After twenty four hours, we know what happens. Right? We're like, oh, that one time or oh, that one thing. So we do wanna take action today. Right? In the next twenty four hours, commit to action, one aspect of the things that we talked about today. Commit to action one new piece of knowledge that you wanna expand on, grow on, learn more about, or dissect aspects of your business. And in order to do that with you, we've created a workbook. It's a growth packet that helps you analyze a lot of the things that we talked about today. It'll take you through creating a SWOT analysis. It has a business assessment to determine, hey, where are we in certain pieces? Right? More of a yes or no checklist response. And then our gift to you is a discovery complimentary consultation with one of our consultants to take you through some of the financial pieces that we talked about today. Have we used a tool like that or expand on the conversations we're talking about like you, Taylor? Hey. I have a struggling location. Help me understand what what foundational pieces may I need to dive deeper into or area of opportunity for myself and your business. So we took a little bit of the work off of you guys with the twenty four hour rule. We have a tool for you to use, but we definitely recommend putting it to use today and and really committing to that aspect of your business to help deploy change. Uh, Becca and Amanda brought this to me a long time ago, uh, from a previous leader that they had. If you wanna change something in your business, you need to change something in your business. Right? And you got to this call today because you're looking for some change in your business. So we're excited for you to be able to take action, and we're so grateful for you guys all to spend time with us this afternoon to talk about growth.

Laura Munkholm:
Amazing. Guys, that was so, so helpful. And having a tool like that is just invaluable where we where you can really actually see the numbers and what the specific action is for change. Because I think that's what paralyzes everybody. You know, we we set goals. We talk about what we want. We we see, you know, the moonshot, like you were talking about at the beginning, Amanda. But it it when you really think about the day to day things that have to happen to make that reality, I think we often get paralyzed or don't know where to start. So having somebody with this type of knowledge is so, so valuable in that process. And I think too just the the call out that it's not the same solution for everybody. Um, every business has its own financial constraints or opportunity. Every business has its own staffing challenges or strengths. Like, that that SWOT analysis is really going to help you identify the best next step for for the business. Um, I know we're gonna be sending this out to everybody who registered for the call today, anybody who's watching this in the future. Um, if it is way past the the time this happened live, uh, you can reach out to the team at Raising the Bar, and they will be able to share the packet with you. But please know that this is something that you're not alone on. Like, the the whole reason for this call is to, um, provide resources so you don't feel like you're on an island in making these decisions and, uh, make sure you feel supported. So, uh, thank you so, so much for being here with us. I appreciate all of you who stuck with us through the call. And for those of you watching this on recording, we are here. We're in the Facebook group. We can definitely, um, chat about any questions, and we'll make sure you're in touch with the Raising the Bar team. Alright. Thank you, everyone. Have a great rest of your day, and we'll see you next month. We are gonna be talking all about social media, what to invest in, what to, um, what to spend time on, what tools you have now with all of the amazing AI in the world, and how you can leverage that for your studio businesses. Alright. Thanks, everyone. Have a great one.

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